Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Disney Bobby]

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A little ironic that this pin went on sale today at WDW. But as it states on the bottom, it’s a way of life. They’re fully aware that being an AP is more than just a subscription to their “service”. APs won’t go away, they’ll just be restructured, which would have happened eventually pandemic or not

I wouldn't read too much into the timing of that. You wouldn't think they would full restore the huge salaries of execs right before they laid off tens of thousands of people in the middle of a pandemic, but they did.

 

[Eric Smith]

After all of the hullabaloo they've gone through for extending, refunding, honoring and letting people renew - as well as buy new AP's for certain groups (if your whole fam has AP's and your kid turned 3, you can buy one, etc) I don't know if they would do this at WDW?

I don't think so. I think they're doing this at Disneyland due to the great uncertainty about when the parks will be able to reopen and at what capacity. The last thing they want to deal with is a ton of ticked off AP holders who can't get in to a park. It's probably easier to refund everyone now and then start selling APs or something like them once park capacity allows for it. I think a similar issue is why they're not currently selling WDW APs. They don't want to sell someone an AP and then have them complain about difficulty getting park passes. It's a less than ideal solution to a very difficult problem.

 

[Brianstl]

View attachment 550213

A little ironic that this pin went on sale today at WDW. But as it states on the bottom, it’s a way of life. They’re fully aware that being an AP is more than just a subscription to their “service”. APs won’t go away, they’ll just be restructured, which would have happened eventually pandemic or not

The announcement today makes it clear what is coming is a membership program and not annual passes. Expect to pay an upfront amount to have the ability to purchase discount tickets packages. The more you pay up front, the more days you can use those tickets

The days of buying a pass that will allow you in everyday year round or during certain times of the year are going away.

 

[Eric Smith]

The announcement today makes it clear what is coming is a membership program and not annual passes. Expect to pay an upfront amount to have the ability to purchase discount tickets packages. The more you pay up front, the more days you can use those tickets

The days of buying a pass that will allow you in everyday year round or during certain times of the year are going away.

I don't think this is accurate at all. I think they announced the change today because they probably won't be able to give access to annual passholders once Disneyland reopens. Someone posted today that Disneyland has ten times as many AP holders as the max capacity of the park. Assuming that Disneyland will reopen with some kind of drastically reduced capacity, there would be no way to accommodate a significant amount of AP holders, especially the ones who are used to going multiple times a week. It's much simpler to refund everyone now instead of dealing with all of the frustration when the park eventually reopens.

 

[Brianstl]

I don't think this is accurate at all. I think they announced the change today because they probably won't be able to give access to annual passholders once Disneyland reopens. Someone posted today that Disneyland has ten times as many AP holders as the max capacity of the park. Assuming that Disneyland will reopen with some kind of drastically reduced capacity, there would be no way to accommodate a significant amount of AP holders, especially the ones who are used to going multiple times a week. It's much simpler to refund everyone now instead of dealing with all of the frustration when the park eventually reopens.

If they aren’t getting ready to get rid of the Pass Holder programs permanently they would have said to stay tuned for news regarding a new pass holder program instead of telling people to stay tuned for a new membership program.

 

[Devil13]

Looking more and more like they really don't want to be in the theme park business.

"We'll do it, I guess, but only in a way that makes us a crap-ton of money and we don't have to actually make any effort. We'll keep prices the same and then cut as much as we can, if attendance is down, we'll use that excuse to cut more."

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If they aren’t getting ready to get rid of the Pass Holder programs permanently they woul have Sid to stay tuned for news regarding a new pass holder program instead of telling people to stay tuned for a new membership program.

Membership vs passholder is semantics IMO, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be subscribe then purchase or that there wont at least be an unlimited access level (vs X number of visits a month or something). I would call the former APs a membership of sorts to Disney parks. I am a member of our local zoo, we can come and go as we please every day they are open. My gym membership allows the same.

 

[Brianstl]

Membership vs passholder is semantics IMO, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be subscribe then purchase or that there wont at least be an unlimited access level (vs X number of visits a month or something). I would call the former APs a membership of sorts to Disney parks. I am a member of our local zoo, we can come and go as we please every day they are open. My gym membership allows the same.

If it was go to operate similarly they wouldn’t have changed what they are calling it.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If it was go to operate similarly they wouldn’t have changed what they are calling it.

I just think it’s kind of premature to assume those kind of things with certainty like they just based on the language used. Membership does not imply they are going to charge for the membership and then charge for each admission. They could, of course, but they could just as likely not.

If it’s a major change and no longer visit at your will when you’re not blacked out, I’ll throw my hat into the ring based on their “choice and flexibility” with X number of park reservations per month (X dependant on your tier of membership). It’s almost like controlling your own black out dates.

 

[Eric Smith]

I just think it’s kind of premature to assume those kind of things with certainty like they just based on the language used. Membership does not imply they are going to charge for the membership and then charge for each admission. They could, of course, but they could just as likely not.

If it’s a major change and no longer visit at your will when you’re not blacked out, I’ll throw my hat into the ring based on their “choice and flexibility” with X number of park reservations per month (X dependant on your tier of membership). It’s almost like controlling your own black out dates.

I wonder if this means they're going to go to monthly instead of yearly. It may also mean that APs (or whatever they are called) will have to make park reservations.

 

[Disney Bobby]

I bet it will be some type of rewards programs. If you aren't buying tickets, they want you spending money inside the park. I suspect ticket discounts will be given based on how much you spend on resort rooms, dining, and merchandise. I would think the last thing they want is locals getting discounted annual passes so they could drive a few minutes, clog up the parks, and buy a coke and a $2 popcorn refill.

 

[rteetz]

I wonder if this means they're going to go to monthly instead of yearly. It may also mean that APs (or whatever they are called) will have to make park reservations.

I fully expect the second part.

 

[Brianstl]

I bet it will be some type of rewards programs. If you aren't buying tickets, they want you spending money inside the park. I suspect ticket discounts will be given based on how much you spend on resort rooms, dining, and merchandise. I would think the last thing they want is locals getting discounted annual passes so they could drive a few minutes, clog up the parks, and buy a coke and a $2 popcorn refill.

This is exactly what I think they are trying to address. Non pass holders spend much more money and they want parks less crowded with annual pass holders and vloggers who come all the time to make it easier for those non pass holders to spend more of their money while in the parks.

 

[kylenne]

I know for obvious reasons people aren’t really focused on the overseas parks but those of you who are upset about the DLR AP situation only need to look at the cluster you know what that happened when Tokyo reopened to understand why this decision got made. TDL has a similarly massive base of local APs to the CA parks and they tried to not cancel out all APs only to end up having to do it anyway after pissing everyone off who couldn’t get in to the parks with the lottery system they initially put in place (which was most of them tbqh).

It sucks to be sure and I feel for ppl affected but it’s honestly less bad than the alternative. Rip the bandaid off now rather than later

 

[Disney Bobby]

If it was go to operate similarly they wouldn’t have changed what they are calling it.

I agree. They spend a lot of money on branding/naming/marketing for their products. No way they throw the "annual pass" verbiage away unless it is something very different.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I wonder if this means they're going to go to monthly instead of yearly. It may also mean that APs (or whatever they are called) will have to make park reservations.

I could see something like that - maybe a discount per month if you commit to 2 years or something

And the the level of pass dictates how many days you have reserve at what time and how far out

Definitely think this is at least to deal with for the first few months after the park reopens as just not enough capacity for the number of passoholders they have and they need new income coming in then. We'll see what happens then long term

 

[MickeyWaffles]

This is exactly what I think they are trying to address. Non pass holders spend much more money and they want parks less crowded with annual pass holders and vloggers who come all the time to make it easier for those non pass holders to spend more of their money while in the parks.

I don’t think they want to alienate the vloggers who advertise the parks for them. The vloggers drive non passholders to book trips and visit the parks. It’s free advertising for them.

I am a perfect example. In 2019 we booked a Disney Halloween on the High Seas cruise just 18 days before sailing solely because I saw an influencer go on one and it looked so much fun (and it was!)

I really think this is a matter of Disneyland having way too many APs to be able to offer unlimited visits after they reopen. The demand plus capacity plus number of APs is off the charts. They need to adjust it right now.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Once capacities return to normal at the parks (and once DLR is allowed to open and then open at full capacity), it theoretically shouldn’t have to be a choice between locals and the higher spending vacationers.

If we’re talking long term program here which it sounds like we are and not just temporary something to get through the initial crush, I think whatever this program is will be good at getting the max amount of money out of people as Disney does, but I do not think they’re going to be attempting to push out locals. There will be room for everyone to hand their cash over eventually.

 

[Cheburashka]

pstking fee still upsets me. I’m driving distance (atlanta) and park is what is normally a fairly empty pop parking lot and then don’t touch my car (unless I forget something and need to run to target). Having to pay for my car to sit there while also paying for transportation like sky liner I’m using annoys me.

What annoys me is paying several hundred dollars per night for a hotel room, then having a $30-ish daily parking fee tacked on, while a person who parks there just to eat at a resort restaurant (and maybe then secretly go off to a nearby park using my resort's superior location or monorail or skyliner transportation) doesn't have to pay anything.

 

[Brianstl]

I don’t think they want to alienate the vloggers who advertise the parks for them. The vloggers drive non passholders to book trips and visit the parks.

I am a perfect example. In 2019 we booked a Disney Halloween on the High Seas cruise just 18 days before sailing solely because I saw an influencer go on one and it looked so much fun (and it was!)

I really think this is a matter of Disneyland having way too many APs to be able to offer unlimited visits after they reopen. The demand plus capacity plus number of APs is off the charts.

I don’t think they care about upsetting many of them anymore. The vlogger situation is getting to numbers that Disney can’t really manage it in anyway and it is creating a growing group of people regularly in the parks who feel entitled. I want to make it clear I am not talking about all vloggers but i think it is really becoming unmanageable. Upset them now about changes when many are complaining non stop already for many different reasons during the current situation and you lessen the overall hit you take.